1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cable lock that includes an adjustable closed loop. The cable lock secures an object by virtue of looping the object and adjusting the size of the closed loop where necessary.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,718 (denoted as '718) to Yang describes a cable lock composed mainly of a belt and a lock body. The belt can pass through the interior of the lock body, which is in connection to an end of the belt, to form a closed loop to be secured on an article. After adjusting the size of the closed loop to prevent the release of the locked article, the belt is then locked by the lock body and makes it be secured by the cable lock.
According to the structure of the cable lock disclosed in the '718 patent, when the adjustment of the size of the closed loop is completed and a locked condition is reached, the belt can be pulled along a direction to reduce the size of the loop. In other words, the size of the closed loop cannot be kept constant in the locked condition. In practice, the locked article may be damaged by the belt or the lock body, when the belt is pulled to make the size smaller. As a result, the article can become damaged easily. Thus, it can be seen that, the reducible size of the closed loop when the cable lock is in the locked condition is a drawback concerning articles of value.
In addition, as disclosed in the '718 patent, the belt, passing through the lock body, must have one of its ends inserted in advance into a slot disposed on the lock body to constitute the closed loop. The slot of the lock body is an aperture that allows the perpendicular insertion of an extremity of the belt in a particular direction. In other words, the extremity of the belt must accurately face the slot so that the belt can be inserted into the lock body so that it can be locked. It may be difficult for a user to apply the cable lock when such an accurate operation is required.